At the Top of the Tower
Elena S. Danielson has been appointed associate director of the Hoover Institution and director of the Hoover Library and Archives. Danielson, MA ’70, PhD ’75, joined the institution in 1978 and has served as its archivist since 1997. She succeeds Charles G. Palm, who retired in December. Palm negotiated the groundbreaking 1992 agreement between Hoover and the Russian State Archival Service that led to the worldwide distribution of 12 million pages of material from the Soviet Communist Party and State Archives.
A New Prize for New Authors
Stanford University Libraries has teamed up with the William Saroyan Foundation to establish the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. The biennial award will honor newly published works of fiction, including novels, short stories, dramas and memoirs. It is meant to encourage emerging authors, rather than recognizing established literary figures. A panel of experts will choose the winner of the $12,500 prize, which will be awarded for the first time in spring 2003. The William Saroyan Foundation granted Stanford University Libraries custodianship of the late California author’s literary collection in 1996.
For Phil Lesh, There Comes a Time
Waiting lines of the devoted sprawled along Campus Drive June 2 when former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh returned to play Frost Amphitheater. Beginning in 1966, the Dead played numerous shows on campus, including 14 at Frost, but in 1989 University administrators determined that the traveling fan base of “Deadheads” had outgrown the venue. Andrew Gustin, ’02, made it a three-year personal project to bring Phil Lesh & Friends to the amphitheater, working with the ASSU, the Stanford Concert Network, and University administrators and police officers to put on the show. Lesh, said Gustin a few days before the performance, “was almost giddy at the prospect of returning to Stanford.”
Alumna Named Police Chief
In June, Laura Wilson became Stanford’s sixth police chief, succeeding Marvin Moore, who died of a heart attack on February 10. Wilson, ’91, has worked for the Stanford department of public safety since 1992 and was promoted to lieutenant in 2001. She is the first alumna and the first woman to hold the top post. “Lt. Wilson embodies the balance of top-notch professional experience and superior people skills that are essential to being a successful police chief at Stanford,” says President John Hennessy. “In addition, as a Stanford graduate and longtime officer, she brings a deep understanding of the University community to the job.”
